The present invention relates to fordable furniture, and more specifically to foldable furniture having a swivel mechanism.
Foldable furniture is very popular in recent years. People who enjoy outdoor activities such as camping, hunting and watching outdoor sport games usually carry foldable furniture with them. Foldable furniture of various designs have been manufactured for easy porting and carrying around outdoors. Foldable chairs or tables have almost become household necessities.
FIG. 1 illustrates an example of a foldable stool. As shown in FIG. 1, the foldable stool comprises three legs 101, a joint ring 102, and a piece of cloth 103 as the stool top. Each leg 101 is pivotedly connected to the joint ring 102 by a pivot pin. One end of each leg is affixed to the cloth 103. As can be seen, the stool can be put up by opening the three legs 101. The cloth 103 is flattened to form the top of the stool by the upper ends of the legs 101 that are then tightly held and restrained by the cloth 101. By collapsing the three legs 101 together, the stool can be folded for easy carrying.
The foldable stool offers great convenience for outdoor activities. However, as most people may have experienced, it is uneasy and inconvenient when sitting on such a stool and trying to swivel around. If one needs to turn around, he often has to stand up to avoid over twisting his necks or bodies.
To ease the above mentioned inconvenience of foldable furniture, swivel mechanism has been added to foldable furniture for a person to swivel around. However, the swivel mechanism is usually bulky and expensive. Therefore, making swivel furniture that is light, inexpensive and durable is a challenge to the sport furniture industry.
The present invention has been made to overcome the above mentioned inconvenience of conventional foldable furniture. The primary object of the invention is to provide a swivel mechanism for foldable furniture. The second object is to provide a swivel mechanism that is durable and can be manufactured with low cost. It is also an object of the invention to provide a swivel mechanism that can be easily integrated into different foldable furniture.
According to this invention, a swivel mechanism is provided for a foldable stool, chair or table. The furniture comprises an upper portion and a lower portion jointed together by the swivel mechanism. A plurality of leg members form the lower portion and a plurality of supporting members form the upper portion. The swivel mechanism comprises upper and lower disks stacked together. A recessed area is formed on the inner surface of each disk for housing a rotatable assembly between the two disks.
A plurality of through holes are formed in the upper disk to receive and joint the supporting members. One end of each supporting member is jointly connected to the upper disk within a through hole. The holes are shaped so that the supporting members can be opened up to support a stool top or a table top that may be formed by a piece of cloth. In a closed position, the supporting members can be folded and collapsed together.
Similarly, a plurality of through holes are also formed in the lower disk to receive and joint the leg members. One end of each leg member is jointly connected to the lower disk. The holes are shaped so that the leg members can be opened up as legs to allow the furniture to stand. In a closed position, the leg members can be folded and collapsed together.
In order to provide strong support and restrain too much movement of the leg or supporting member, a bridge member is formed within a through hole in the upper or lower disk. The bridge member has one side formed with a slanted concave surface. The through hole also has a side wall with a slanted concave surface. When the leg member or the supporting member is held in a slanted open position, the slanted concave surfaces are engaged with the leg member or the supporting member. Because of the engagement, the leg or supporting member is tightly restrained within the through hole. The foldable furniture can swivel around without denting or damaging the leg or supporting member at the joint end.